Which is the best turkey breed for hobby pharming

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

The criteria are heat tolerance, cold hardiness, robustness, ability to reproduce normally, good egg laying ability, behavior (character), taste, broodiness etc.

The battle of the breeds begins.

Broad breasted White
Broad breasted Bronze
Norfolk Black (Spanish Bronze)
Bourbon Red
Royal Palm

 

[R2elk]

The criteria are heat tolerance, cold hardiness, robustness, ability to reproduce normally, good egg laying ability, behavior (character), taste, broodiness etc.

The battle of the breeds begins.

Broad breasted White
Broad breasted Bronze
Norfolk Black (Spanish Bronze)
Bourbon Red
Royal Palm

Your criteria of natural reproduction eliminates all but heritage turkeys. Broad breasted turkeys are reproduced for the most part by artificial insemination.

As far as I can tell egg laying ability, taste and broodiness are pretty much equal among all the heritage breeds. They are all seasonal layers.

Behavior is mostly influenced by how they are raised although some bad traits may be inheritable.

"Norfolk Black (Spanish Bronze)"? A black turkey is a black turkey and a bronze turkey is a bronze turkey.

If you want maximum size from your heritage turkeys, choose a Bourbon Red over a Royal palm. The Royal Palms are one of the smaller varieties and Bourbon Red are on the bigger side of heritage turkeys.

 

[Thomas Lamprogiorgos]

Thank you for the information.

In Greece, we use the name "Norfolk Black" mainly, but we refer to this heritage breed as "Spanish Bronze" too. They are not always totally black.